By Dr David Laing Dawson
Unexpectedly, in some parts of North America, we seem to have reverted to a time of book burning, or at least book banning, from school libraries.
Ironically, this is being promoted by people who came away with all the wrong messages from reading Ayn Rand, Orwell, Bradbury, and Huxley. Or they missed the point of Animal Farm, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World, and skipped the critical discussion of Atlas Shrugged.
I am also aware that, literally and figuratively, we have, currently, a U.S. government trying to whitewash American history.
But, despite those headwinds, I have some suggestions for altering the curricula of North American High Schools. And I can only imagine how difficult it is today, in 2025, to decide what to include and what to exclude from the teaching of children age 5 to 18, and what to make mandatory in college, if anything.
Part of this comes from a story I’ve told before: When we were settled in the lecture hall in second year medicine, a yahoo in the class challenged the Professor of Psychiatry with the words, “Sir, Psychiatry isn’t really very scientific, is it?”
The Professor closed his papers on the lectern, paused a second, and then said, “Perhaps Mr. Wilson would like to explain the philosophy of science to the class. What science means.” After Mr. Wilson fidgeted and looked away, the Professor proceeded to talk for the full hour on the meaning of science, the methods of science, the philosophy of science. And I realized it was the first time I had sat through such a discourse despite having studied science, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and physiology through High School, University, into Medical School.
So, Suggestion 1: Add some explication of science much earlier, the foundational methods of science, the manner in which the fundamental question in science is: “How do we know that to be true.”
And then we have “vaccine hesitancy”, a wholesale attack on vaccinations in some quarters, accompanied by a growing market for quackery, wholly unscientific treatments and various kinds of snake oil.
So, Suggestion number 2: Include some history of western scientific medicine and public health. Let the children know, at least in their teens, that 40% of them would be dead without vaccines and scientifically based public health, and modern medical care. Tell them about Edward Jenner and Smallpox. About Jonas Salk and Polio.
And sure, if you feel a balance is needed, include some of the times western medicine overreached.
Perhaps tie suggestion 1 and 2 together by explaining that so-called “alternative medicine” is not scientific, that it has not faced the question, “How do we know that to be true.”
Suggestion 3: The current extremes, the battle between left and right, between “socialism” and “capitalism”, could be dampened with some change in the history curriculum. The history is there: Unfettered, extreme, or total socialism, or communism, is a disaster for 80% of the population. And our history tells us also that unfettered, unregulated capitalism is a disaster for 80% of the population. The right balance leads to a healthy, happy population. The job of government and politicians is to constantly seek that right balance. So lets teach that to students early on, through both history, and the comparative health and welfare of populations in the world.
